Oriental New Year Celebrations

From the collection of

Established in 1992, the South West Film & Television Archive collection spans from 1893 to the present day containing more than 250,000 items. Formed from a variety of depositors, including broadcast news and programmes material from the Westward and TSW archive. In 2018 the archive collection transferred to The Box in Plymouth.

Oriental New Year Celebrations (TSW News)

The Box
Plymouth
1992-02-04
Sound

In 1992, Plymouth hosts a local Chinese New Year celebration to welcome in the Year of the Monkey, with many families enjoying the traditional dancing, music and food.

For the Chinese community New Year is often celebrated later in January or early February, and is the most celebrated holiday of the year. The festival celebrates the beginning of a coming year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival. Regional customs and traditions vary widely but it is a time for family and celebrating those important Chinese customs and heritage.

Plymouth hosts a local Chinese New Year celebration, with many families enjoying the traditional dancing, music and food. This year it is the Year of the Monkey.

For the Chinese community New Year is often celebrated later in January or early February, nad is the most celebrated holiday of the year. The festival celebrates the beginning of a coming year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival. Regional customs and traditions vary widely but it is a time for family and celebrating those important Chinese customs and heritage.

Chinese Britain

From restaurants and supermarkets to colourful New Year celebrations, explore how television has represented British Chinese communities through the decades.

The dynamic dragon dances of Lunar New Year are an annual fixture on our television screens. Like Carnival or Diwali, this point in the calendar offers regional news crews across the country an opportunity to capture colour and spectacle on our doorstep. The history of Britain's Chinese communities is centuries-long, but the wave of postwar immigration in the 20th century coincided with the rise of television, and over the ensuing decades local news has reported on this community, with a mixture of curiosity and novelty, for an implied majority white British audience.

This collection brings together several of these reports, most of which are anchored in areas where British Chinese communities are most visible: restaurants, supermarkets and, naturally, New Year celebrations. And yet, despite the undeniable contribution that this community has made to the changing landscape of British society, there is a dearth of opportunities for British Chinese talent on our screens – with the likes of Bert Kwouk, Gemma Chan and Benedict Wong serving as few exceptions to the norm. So, to complement the news items in this collection, there are also personal documentaries and short films by British Chinese filmmakers who turn the camera around, and offer their perspective on life in Britain.